1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the packaging of food products, and more particularly to food product packaging which aids in dispersing, on demand, a solid food component, such as a cheese sauce, onto a second food component such as vegetable chips, crisps, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of dips and sauces has been provided to complement food products such as tortilla chips, potato chips and crisps, for example. The complementary sauces and dips may be served at a variety of temperatures ranging from refrigerated temperatures to much hotter, elevated temperatures. Typically, when served at elevated temperatures, the sauce or dip is removed from a container and placed in a cooking vessel or dish for heating. Advances in packaging and serving are continually being sought.
A problem associated with multi-component food products of the type described above, in addition to the extra steps and use of dishes associated with separate heating, is the uneven dispersion of one food component over the other. For example, while a cheese sauce may be served in a cup, for use as a dip, it is becoming increasingly popular to pour a melted cheese sauce over a pile of food chips. Care must be taken to drizzle or otherwise pour the cheese sauce evenly across the mound of chips. Too often cheese sauce is concentrated in a localized position of the mounded pile of food chips. Improvements in dispersion and a reduction in the amount of attention paid to dispersion techniques is being sought.
It is an object of the invention to provide a multi-component food product in which a first solid food component is converted into liquid form for use with a second food component such as food chips or the like.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a packaging for food products of the above type which are suitable for use in microwave ovens.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide automatic or unattended even dispersion of the liquified food product onto a second food component.
A further object of the present invention is to provide packaging of the type described above suitable for use in mass production assembly operations.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide food packaging of the above-described type which is suitable for use with high volume gas flushing operations carried out immediately prior to sealing of the package, so as to preserve the freshness of the food components.
These and other objects of the present invention are provided in a combination of a food product and package, assembled for transport to a remote location, which comprises a bowl that has a side wall and a bottom wall which cooperate to define an interior cavity, and an upper end. A cap or lid dimensioned to close the upper end of the bowl has a central cup-like depression that receives the second food component in a solid cake form. The central portion of the lid includes a plurality of protrusions which extend into the second food product component. The cap includes a pair of diametrically opposed fluted portions disposed on either side of the central portion. The bowl defines a pair of diametrically opposed fluted portions complementarity shaped with the fluted portions of the cap so that the cap and bowl nest interfitting with the cap in both shipping and heating inverted positions. The cap in the heating position presents protrusions downwardly which extend toward the bowl interior with the outer surfaces of the protrusions guiding the second food product component for uniform distribution about the interior of the bowl.